In The Spotlight

A joint project of the Campaign Finance Institute, American Enterprise Institute and the Brookings Institution today unveiled a new report, "Reform in an Age of Networked Campaigns: How to Foster Citizen Participation Through Small Donors and Volunteers."

On Saturday, December 10 the Democratic National Committee's Commission on Presidential Nomination Timing and Scheduling, co-chaired by Rep. David Price (D-NC) and former Secretary of Labor Alexis Herman, called for congressional action to reform the presidential public financing system.

With George W. Bush, John Kerry and Howard Dean rejecting public financing for their 2004 presidential primary campaigns, any serious candidate in 2008 will have to consider doing the same. Yet after analyzing 2004, a politically diverse CFI Task Force has concluded that a sound matching fund system is still very much in the public interest.

The official end of the nomination process – which legally runs through the national party conventions – is a good time to take stock of presidential fundraising. By convention time – according to the August financial reports filed September 20 with the Federal Election Commission – the two major parties’ presidential candidates had raised a record $684 million. This was nearly double the $350 million their predecessors had raised in 2000.

Howard Dean’s potential decision to reject public funding for his primary campaign is understandable but regrettable. It underlines the urgent need to save and improve the Presidential Public Financing system, as advocated by CFI’s recent blue ribbon Task Force recommendations.

With the Republican President and two major Democratic presidential candidates rejecting, or thinking of rejecting, public financing for their primary campaigns, the post-Watergate system of financing presidential nominations is in grave jeopardy. But after a year of study, a blue ribbon Campaign Finance Institute Task Force has concluded that the system should be saved and improved.

A comprehensive study of Internet-based federal campaign finance disclosure concludes that the system “is riddled with problems.” The study, just released, was conducted by a blue ribbon Task Force on Disclosure of the nonpartisan Campaign Finance Institute (CFI).

A high profile Task Force of former congressional and administration officials, political professionals, and election law experts issued a report proposing new standards for political advertising disclosure today